June would ask [our guest] if she was warm enough, so she asked me for another cover, and of course, I didn’t have one. – Bertha Dobson, 1936
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| A winter scene |
I always thought that when I got to this point in life, I would have a collection of nice blankets. My mother had enough blankets to make every bed comfortable, or at least I thought she did, so why shouldn’t I? But it didn’t happen for me, and I don’t seem to be able to make it happen for myself. During the cold months, we keep the house on the cool side, and while we cope, guests feel the chill, so I comb through our linen closet in search of anything to make the guest bed warmer.
Why don’t I have blankets? Let me count the reasons:
1)
The
price. Good blankets are expensive and I just balk at spending because ...
2)
we
seldom need extras – just once or twice a year for a few days, ...
3)
and
then they take up storage space that I don’t have.
4)
I
prefer the woven blankets that seem to have disappeared from the market.
5)
I
want to see what I’m buying rather than ordering from a picture. Macy’s and
Penney’s closed here, and I learned the hard way that Walmart blankets aren’t
warm.
As I recently re-pondered this dilemma, it occurred to me that I could sew up some simple quilts. Lord knows, I have plenty of fabric, but it’s probably not coordinated well enough to make a pleasing quilt. Not all fabrics belong on the same quilt. I could also crochet some “blankets,” but again, all the yarns in my extensive stash don’t belong on the same afghan. To be warm, an afghan would have to be crocheted tightly without holes – no grannies.
A family member said in effect, “I hate to think of you taking that on. Why don’t you just buy some blankets?” Well, see numbers 1-5 above. On the other hand, nice big afghan kits are $250. In that case, I just as well buy a blanket and do something else with my time.
But – the post-Christmas sales are on, and I ordered an afghan kit from Annie's. I can hardly wait until it gets here, but it's on backorder. KW
We have four beds in our house that are always made up, and with the hide-a-bed sofa in the family room, we can sleep up to six other people. I have blankets and sheets for the hide-a-bed in a closet downstairs close to the family room so it's easy to set up. Over the years I have about a dozen (maybe more, I've never counted) quilts that I've made so we have those for extra warmth. I think you'll enjoy making your afghan, but don't hesitate to take your fabrics and make quilts. Even if you think things don't go together, they'll be fine in blocks separated by a consistent fabric. I've seen lots of quilts with blocks of 4-patch to 12-patch with all kinds of colors in them, and when surrounded by a neutral color make lovely quilts. And easy to make!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, Chris. I'm a collector of charm packs and fat quarters, most of them in compatible Depression Era prints and colors. It just remains to organize it. And the same is probably true of my yarn, but I think I would want to stay in the same manufacturer and yarn weight.
ReplyDeleteSomeplace I have several nice patterns. It would just remain to pull it all together. The big question is, "Can she do it?"
I've noticed about myself that I don't have those bedroom linen sets with the decorative pillows that you don't actually sleep on. I feel less put-together without them, but I mostly don't want extra pillows around. Where do I put them when I'm sleeping?
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about pillow shams? I keep an extra set of pillows with shams on the foot of our bed. But my guests generally don't like my pillows, and that's another dilemma. I have pillows taking up storage space, and I don't want to buy more pillows that no one likes.
ReplyDelete